Good Thing We Decided to Celebrate
by cavanaugh-girl
Summary: With Jordan gone the gang decides to skip Christmas this year but as fate would have it they change their minds at the last minute. Good thing they did. Reviews greatly appreciated.


Disclaimer: I don't own em… 

_**Just something that came to me….**_

Nearly every man woman and child is looking forward to the holidays. The fun, the laughter, the food, the gifts, yes the holiday spirit had reached the greater Boston area. It was that much unfortunate that a certain group of people was going to extreme lengths to _not_ participate in the festivities. This year the reason for celebrating was lost and until they made their group whole again there was no reason for celebration.

When Jordan ran all those months ago, no one really thought that she would be gone this long. Yet here they were on Christmas Eve and still no Jordan. The passed like any other day after she had left. It was all mostly work. Naturally besides work every moment that could be spared was used to search for Jordan and the people behind framing her for murder. It was mutually agreed upon by the group that she was innocent. No matter how much the DA's office or Detective Simmons pressed on, they thought…no they knew she was innocent.

It was only a matter of time before they would find her was the initial thought. They however had underestimated Jordan's perseverance, if she didn't want to be found, she wasn't going to be found by anyone. That was one skill that had helped her many times in the past and luckily for her own sake she was damn good at it too.

Unfortunately this left the rest of the group with nothing, it seemed there was no way to find her. Even Nigel that could find a needle in a haystack within mere minutes if asked to do so had no luck. All his handy dandy machines failed him this time…this time when he wanted it to work the most.

Christmas. This year there was nothing to celebrate. Of course they could have celebrated Bug and Lily's long overdue reunion but it wasn't the same without Jordan. A couple of times either Woody or Nigel had made an attempt to get the gang together in celebration of Bug and Lily. The night would always start out good but as the alcohol flowed over the course of the night so did the emotions. Emotions would always run high, as the alcohol would bring out the suppressed feelings. Some felt more responsible than others; there was always a common thread…Jordan was deeply missed.

It was Lily finally who managed to persuade the gang to put their feelings aside for the night and come together to spend Christmas Eve together. After some initial resistance it was decided to all sit down together for dinner. It was decided to not get any gifts this year but as the days went by each person for some reason or another did buy something here and there. Nothing too expensive, just a token of appreciation. There even was a tree, it was a small one but it was a tree decorated and all. There was some disagreement about the location though. The pub formerly the Pogue had too many memories. The Beef 'n Brew likewise. The location came to them one day when Garret had yelled out of frustration to have the _damn thing here for all I care._ Here…the morgue. It seemed kind of disturbing at first but then the idea began to feel right. It was here that they spend the most time with each other anyways. Jordan would also in a way be with them as they sat down for dinner.

Finally the night came when they would have this _damned dinner_ as Garret liked to call it. He actually welcomed it, even though he would never admit it to the rest even if his life depended on it. The last few months had taken a toll on everyone. They shouldn't have to feel bad if they wanted to unwind for one night. It was just one night and they could continue their search in the morning.

The dinner turned out to be quite nice. The gang was all there, Nigel, Bug, Lily, Woody and Garret. They had dinner in the conference room. Lily had taken care of the decorations with the help of Bug and Nigel. The latter had provided some mild background music. Garret was too tired to ask how he managed to get the music so it went well on more than one level.

They decided to open the gifts while they enjoyed their deserts. The tree looked even smaller with all the gifts surrounding it. Still, everything looked perfect to them. Nigel decided to pick the gifts that were to be opened. The first gift however, the first name on the gift put a halt on the night's festivities. It became apparent that some of the gifts were for their missing friend. A number of gifts had Jordan's name on it. After a few minutes of silence he continued, Bug was up first.

Once they all had unwrapped their gifts they sat down for one final drink before they would head on home. The topic was slightly serious; Nigel asked the group about their Christmas wishes for this year. After a few silly answers Lily said out loud what everyone was thinking before breaking down in tears. "I want her back. I just want her here safe with us."

The rest soon mimicked her thoughts and sentiments. It was obvious; their little group was just incomplete without Jordan. "Love, we all know how you feel. I want her here next to us just as bad as you do." Nigel replied.

"It's just not fair," Lily went on. "She didn't do it. She's innocent but she's out there all alone fighting for her life and we can't even help her." Her sadness was now replaced by anger. "I don't usually make Christmas wishes but if there was one thing that I could wish for right now is her safe return. That's my wish."

"Same here," Woody added. "Christmas is a time for family and friends to come together and be happy. It shouldn't be like this. She shouldn't be alone."

They all nodded their heads in agreement. Bug and Nigel both expressed how badly they wished for her to be here.

"Here's my wish," Garret said continuing with the night's trend. "I too wish she was here right now. Hell, I'd even ease up on the paperwork; I just want her back with us. That's my wish."

"Wish granted," someone said behind them. "But I really am going to hold you that less paperwork thing you just mentioned. I mean there's witnesses, you said it not me."

The group all turned around at the sound of her voice. They were all baffled; they couldn't believe she was standing here, in one piece nonetheless. Granted she looked much skinnier than before and she clearly had not been sleeping well telling from the dark circles under her eyes. That all didn't matter right now. She was here. She was actually standing in front of them.

"Hmm this is not quite how I had imagined this to go. Ok maybe I should step outside for a moment and come back in," she said when there still wasn't even a reply from the other side.

As if on cue they all simultaneously screamed no and practically jumped forward to give her a hug. They all asked questions at the same time. They wanted to know where she had been, what she had been doing and more importantly how exactly she had managed to come back.

"Ok ok one at a time guys, one at a time." She said when it was becoming a bit too overwhelming.

"Jordan…how?" it was the shortest and most pressing question they were able to ask.

"Turned out I was framed for JD's murder. Yes big surprise I know," she said sarcastically. "I've been in Washington DC where I got all the evidence I needed." She stopped to looked at them all for a second. "I'm so sorry I couldn't contact you guys. You have no clue how much I wanted to and how much I missed you guys." Tears started to form now. "It was just better this way, believe me."

Instead of easing their minds Jordan actually raised even more questions. She quickly put a halt to it all though, "guys…I'm sorry I know you want to everything that has happened in my life for last few months, but I can't right now. I promise you I'll tell you everything after I've had a real meal and a good nights sleep…really I promise. All I can tell you is that everything is over and done with now. I've been cleared and I know how this might sound because none of you guys had a clue, but that was one of the conditions of the deal I had with the DA's office."

Regardless of all the burning questions they had for her, they could see she really was exhausted so for now they agreed to drop any questions they had and spend the rest of the night with her.

There was still some food left so they sat down with her as she ate and the night went on with more laughter and a little but of crying.

"Jordan…how did you know we'd all be here tonight?" Garret asked. He couldn't resist this final question.

"I didn't. In fact I thought you'd all be out celebrating. I just came here…well this is my home. I just came home."

End 


End file.
